March 21, 2012

eTextbooks!


Last Thursday I presented to a school librarians association conference on “Becoming a 21st Century Librarian”. In the ‘environment’ section of the presentation I covered eTextbooks as a coming reality in the classroom and school library, and used an infographic from Accredited Online Universities Guide.

What Apple is doing to advance the eTextbook through iBooks 2 for iPad, and iBook Author is both remarkable and aggressive. It literally may change the face of education.

Combine that with results of what higher-ed students are already saying about eTextbooks, based on the results of a survey by e.campus.com – A LOOK AT STUDENTS USING eTEXTBOOKS – and the reality is clear – eTextbooks are the new reality.

At visual.ly, the infographic shows some very convincing trends toward the use of eTextbooks. About half (48%) of all students choose eTextbooks because of the lower price, another 25% choose them to have instant access, 19% choose eTextbooks for the portability, but only 6% prefer reading digital format.

The attraction for eTextbooks seems to be the search capability that 52% like most. Twenty percent like highlighting, and 14% like the copy-paste capability (one might expect this to be the most valued feature), and 12% like the interactive study guides and quizzes. As far as saving time, another big student issue, 51% claim they save from 1 to 3 hours per semester, while 17% say they save more than 3 hours, and 29% don’t see any time savings with eTextbooks.

In response to the question – “Would you buy an eTextbook next semester?” – only 7% said No, but 38% said Yes for all their books, while 54% were undecided – Maybe.

What does this whole trend say about the future of technology, eBooks and library services?

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March 19, 2012

Many 21st Century Library Directors Are NOT Librarians


That headline snapped into my brain yesterday when I read that The new head of Ottawa’s library is not a librarian,

Danielle McDonald took over the Ottawa [Canada] Public Library and its $50-million budget this week. She’s a departure from her predecessor, Barbara Clubb, who started out shelving books and capped her career with a national award for her service to librarianship. McDonald is a lifelong administrator specializing in behind-the-scenes work in the city bureaucracy.

With a rich history of service to a population of now over 880,000, and a $50M budget, what kind of experience and/or education would a librarian need to direct such a large operation in Ottawa? Obviously, these library decision makers/boards of trustees/ community leaders believed that it is not necessary for their library’s director be a librarian. One could easily make the argument that they believed it was more important for the leader to be a leader, have some business acumen, be an experienced manager, and be able to direct the library’s activities in a successful direction.

When one looks around at all of these mega-library systems, one finds many library directors who are not librarians. Every librarian should ask themselves “Why?”

Salt Lake County Library Services has been headed by Director James D. Cooper, MBA, since 2001. In 2005 the system garnered the Best in Utah Library title, and the system has grown significantly under Jim’s leadership, building two new branches since 2008, making a total of 20 throughout the County of over 500,000 customers. According to Hennen’s American Public Library Ratings for 1999 to 2010, SLCoLS ranks fifth in the nation.

Would anyone realistically expect the President of New York Public Library to be a librarian?

Dr. Anthony W. Marx, President of Amherst College and a distinguished political scientist, became The New York Public Library’s President and CEO on July 1, 2011. … A native New Yorker, Dr. Marx attended P.S. 98 and the Bronx High School of Science. He then attended Wesleyan and Yale, where he graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in 1981. He received his M.P.A. from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University in 1986, then earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton in 1987 and 1990.

The former Director, St. Louis Public Library, Glen Holt did not have an MLS degree, but directed the multimillion dollar operation for 15 years, that included initiation of a $70M library renovation, before turning over the leadership to his deputy director in 2004. Associate Professor and Chairperson Dr. Mary E. Brown, Department of Information and Library Science, Southern Connecticut State University, uses a Holt publication in her coursework.

Holt, Glen (2002). A way to the future: reorganizing library work, The Bottom Line: Managing Library Finances, 15, 1.
[Summarizing:] Holt argues that traditional library work tends to entangle librarians in chores that do not take advantage of their training and abilities and encourages library management to make structural changes that will allow librarians to do intellectual work rather than less significant tasks. This intellectual work should include old and new tasks that require full use of librarian expertise while using non-librarian employees for most other work. Mr. Holt discusses steps that his institution has taken to evolve the traditional role of librarians into knowledge managers. Although these steps may not be appropriate for every institution, there are several principals that may serve library administrators attempting to transform their institutions in a similar fashion. Principally applying business principals for cost-benefit efficiency and using technology to improve the communication and services of a library institution. [Emphasis added.]

Several states like Wisconsin have laws that require library directors to be certified – with one notable exception.

Administrators of public library systems, county libraries, county library services, and municipal public libraries except Milwaukee Public Library must hold certification as described in this manual. An “administrator” of a library or system is, according to administrative rules, the head librarian or other person appointed by the board of the library or system to direct and administer the library or system. [Emphasis added.]

IMHO, the major issue is leadership and executive experience required for larger library systems. Where does a librarian get that? OJT? I don’t think so. SLIS? Definitely not!

It appears to me that this trend toward hiring non-librarians to fill high level library director positions will continue until the profession begins to develop its own – its own visionary leaders and executives – and takes mentoring very seriously.

If anyone has examples of librarians ascending to these high level library director positions, please share.

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March 8, 2012

Our Future is Not Uncertain – It’s Ambiguous


In January 2012 Robert Safian posted an eye-opening article for FAST COMPANY titled “This Is Generation Flux: Meet The Pioneers of The New (And Chaotic) Frontier of Business“. When I recently read it, it resonated with me because it so closely defined my ideas of what the 21st Century Librarian must be like in order to – not only survive – but thrive in the library’s ambiguous future.

As I have stated too many times to count – “21st Century Librarians create 21st Century Libraries” – and that begins with a 21st Century librarian mind-set. (21st Century Library Paradigm – More Evidence and The 21st Century Library is More:)

Safian has done an expert job of describing and explaining the future and what it requires from individuals to not only survive – but thrive. Through interviews with several Gen Flux members, he has painted a compelling picture of the future of those who will thrive in business, but his observations and conclusions can be applied to librarianship equally as meaningfully.

Look at the global cell-phone business. Just five years ago, three companies controlled 64% of the smartphone market: Nokia, Research in Motion, and Motorola. Today, two different companies are at the top of the industry: Samsung and Apple. This sudden complete swap in the pecking order of a global multibillion-dollar industry is unprecedented. Consider the meteoric rise of Groupon and Zynga, the disruption in advertising and publishing, the advent of mobile ultrasound and other “mHealth” breakthroughs … Online-education efforts are eroding our assumptions about what schooling looks like. Cars are becoming rolling, talking, cloud-connected media hubs. In an age where Twitter and other social-media tools play key roles in recasting the political map in the Mideast; where impoverished residents of refugee camps would rather go without food than without their cell phones; where all types of media, from music to TV to movies, are being remade, redefined, defended, and attacked every day in novel ways – there is no question that we are in a new world.

Any business that ignores these transformations does so at its own peril. Despite recession, currency crises, and tremors of financial instability, the pace of disruption is roaring ahead. The frictionless spread of information and the expansion of personal, corporate, and global networks have plenty of room to run. And here’s the conundrum: When businesspeople search for the right forecast – the road map and model that will define the next era – no credible long-term picture emerges. There is one certainty, however. The next decade or two will be defined more by fluidity than by any new, settled paradigm; if there is a pattern to all this, it is that there is no pattern. The most valuable insight is that we are, in a critical sense, in a time of chaos.

To thrive in this climate requires a whole new approach … [b]ecause some people will thrive. They are the members of Generation Flux. This is less a demographic designation than a psychographic one: What defines GenFlux is a mind-set that embraces instability, that tolerates – and even enjoys – recalibrating careers, business models, and assumptions. Not everyone will join Generation Flux, but to be successful, businesses and individuals will have to work at it. This is no simple task. The vast bulk of our institutions – educational, corporate, political – are not built for flux. Few traditional career tactics train us for an era where the most important skill is the ability to acquire new skills. [Emphasis added.]

In addition to shining a spotlight on the inadequacies of our current SLIS curricula to develop librarian leaders for the future, the 21st Century skills that I have been advocating through numerous Blog posts include:
• Business Acumen
• Cloud Computing
• Crowdsourcing
• Customer Targeting
• Digital Discovery
• Discontinuous Thinking
• Gaming
• Likenomics
• Open Innovation
• Planned Abandonment
• Subject Matter Expert in ‘Community’
• Social Networking
• Value Added

I have also been advocating that the external environment – technology advancement, education reform, and societal changes – has changed so drastically that business as usual will not keep libraries relevant or even alive.

That still doesn’t discount the way mobile, social, and other breakthroughs are changing our way of life, not just in America but around the globe. And in the process, these changes are remaking geopolitical and business assumptions that have been in place for decades. This was not true in 2000. But it is now. Chaotic disruption is rampant, not simply from the likes of Apple, Facebook, and Google. No one predicted that General Motors would go bankrupt – and come back from the abyss with greater momentum than Toyota. … Digital competition destroyed bookseller Borders, and yet the big, stodgy music labels – seemingly the ground zero for digital disruption – defy predictions of their demise. Walmart has given up trying to turn itself into a bank, but before retail bankers breathe a sigh of relief, they ought to look over their shoulders at Square and other mobile-wallet initiatives. Amid a reeling real-estate market, new players like Trulia and Zillow are gobbling up customers. … “All these industries are being revolutionized,” observes Pete Cashmore, the 26-year-old founder of social-news site Mashable, which has exploded overnight to reach more than 20 million users a month. “It’s come to technology first, but it will reach every industry. You’re going to have businesses rise and fall faster than ever.”

Within the librarian profession we tend to rely on the past for perspective. We try to play it safe when making decisions about what to collect, what to program, how to deliver services, etc. That time has passed and especially in this rapidly changing future, we can not resort to some outdated playbook of “We’ve always done it this way.” and expect to survive.

Susan Peters, who oversees GE’s executive-development effort, “The pace of change is pretty amazing,” Peters says. “There’s a need to be less hierarchical and to rely more on teams. This has all increased dramatically in the last couple of years.”

Executives at GE are bracing for a new future. The challenge they face is the same one staring down wide swaths of corporate America, not to mention government, schools, and other institutions that have defined how we’ve lived: These organizations have structures and processes built for an industrial age, where efficiency is paramount but adaptability is terribly difficult. We are finely tuned at taking a successful idea or product and replicating it on a large scale. But inside these legacy institutions, changing direction is rough. From classrooms arranged in rows of seats to tenured professors, from the assembly line to the way we promote executives, we have been trained to expect an orderly life. Yet the expectation that these systems provide safety and stability is a trap.

“The business community focuses on managing uncertainty,” says Dev Patnaik, cofounder and CEO of strategy firm Jump Associates, which has advised GE, Target, and PepsiCo, among others. “That’s actually a bit of a canard.” The true challenge lies elsewhere, he explains: “In an increasingly turbulent and interconnected world, ambiguity is rising to unprecedented levels. That’s something our current systems can’t handle.

“There’s a difference between the kind of problems that companies, institutions, and governments are able to solve and the ones that they need to solve,” Patnaik continues. “Most big organizations are good at solving clear but complicated problems. They’re absolutely horrible at solving ambiguous problems – when you don’t know what you don’t know. Faced with ambiguity, their gears grind to a halt.

“Uncertainty is when you’ve defined the variable but don’t know its value. Like when you roll a die and you don’t know if it will be a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6. But ambiguity is when you’re not even sure what the variables are. You don’t know how many dice are even being rolled or how many sides they have or which dice actually count for anything.” Businesses that focus on uncertainty, says Patnaik, “actually delude themselves into thinking that they have a handle on things.” [Emphasis added.]

If you think you have a handle on the uncertainty within librarianship, you’re fooling yourself so you can feel safe. The ambiguous future takes the “science” out of librarianship that can only be replaced by BOLD LEADERSHIP.

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February 29, 2012

The High Performing Library


The majority of libraries are not excellent libraries in terms of being able to exceed all standards, all employees having a positive attitude, providing excellent services, being customer focused, being an integral part of the community, and achieving their full potential. Despite the many reasons why this situation exists, the goal of virtually every library is to be the best possible library that they can be. The problem becomes how to achieve excellence from your current library situation by first recognizing where you are as an organization, and then deciding what type of organization you want to be.

The High Performance Programming (HPP) model was created by Linda Nelson and Frank Burns (Organization Transformation, 1983) and offers a perspective to assess what kind of organization you are – what kind of library organization you are:
• Reactive
• Responsive
• Proactive, or
• High Performing.

The High Performance Programming model illustrates a way of thinking about the process and strategies that can assist in transforming an organization into a high performing one. The structure of the model provides a nested framework for diagnosing current levels of performance, as well as for understanding the potential for performance at the highest levels. The term “programming” is used to emphasize the fact that an organization’s present performance level is a function of past implicit and explicit operating actions.

In the same manner, future performance will be determined by how the organization’s culture is being shaped now. This critical issue is the key to unlocking the performance potential of an organization. Leadership is the key to shaping the organization’s culture.

This graphic representation shows three frames of reference that make up the body of the HPP model, plus the REACTIVE frame of reference.

Each of these four states represents a distinct operating frame of reference. With the exception of the REACTIVE frame, these frames are nested one inside the next to reflect a basic concept of the model that each larger frame builds upon and provides an enhanced cultural context for the frame(s) within it. The PROACTIVE frame is an extension of and enhancement of the RESPONSIVE frame, and so on.

Frames of Reference: The concept of frames of reference, as applied here, is a useful way of examining the difference between organizational change efforts that merely re-sort and re-label the organization’s elements and functions, from change efforts that truly result in a new and transformed organization. Actual improved performance will result only if there is also a corresponding change in the frame of reference of the people in the organization beginning with the leader. Change in today’s environment is no longer a choice, it is a requirement. Its direction may take different forms.

An organization facing increasing complexity and change, such as the 21st Century Library, will either evolve toward a more connected and integrated form or drift into an increasingly fragmented condition. The fragmented condition is termed REACTIVE because it is drifting toward a fragmented survivalist condition. Organizations desiring to evolve toward a high performing condition can follow the High Performance Programming model which provides new ways for leaders to think coherently about how they can influence the transformation to excellence.

The REACTIVE Library:
The REACTIVE state is not the state where most organizations have their beginning. But, it is the state where many organizations find themselves stagnating and struggling for survival. In these organizations members do not; share a common purpose, have a sense of accomplishment, feel as though the leadership really cares, share a value system, or demonstrate the characteristics of excellence. The eleven dimensions shown in Figure 2 can be used to diagnose the culture of REACTIVE organizations. The air of “covering your rear” and “putting out fires” pervades the atmosphere in REACTIVE libraries. Leadership assumes the role of law enforcement, compliance with policies and procedures, and sheer survival are the motivators for most people. The lack of shared purpose has a telling effect on the structure of the library. The structure, despite its meat appearance on paper, is in reality a fragmented collection of separate elements, often working at cross purposes and competing over resources and territory.

Another lethal aspect of REACTIVE libraries is the almost total lack of caring about people. Subordinates have an unwillingness to tell their leader bad news. The leader rarely praises people for good work because “that’s what they get paid for.” People become insensitive in order to survive and “shut down” in these painful environments. Leaders also contribute to the perpetuation of this type environment by becoming blind to individuals and focused only on the short term perceived success of “kicking butt.”

The RESPONSIVE Library:
To move the organization out of a REACTIVE frame of reference into a RESPONSIVE one requires a carefully balanced approach that entails both patience and leadership. Change must occur in the frame of reference of the members and the organization concurrently. Positive leadership to clarify goals, values and the worth of the individual must be implemented in a way that builds mutual trust. This HPP model proposes that leaders must begin by re-focusing the organization on clearly defined goals, developing action plans for accomplishing tasks, solving problems, building teams and using the “situational leadership” model developed by Hersey and Blanchard (Management of Organizational Behavior , 1986).

A successful transformation from REACTIVE to RESPONSIVE type library will result in the changes depicted in the Model. Members are focused on producing results in the present through planned activities to achieve near term, clearly defined organizational goals. The leader is a coach and mentor that motivates group members by meaningful participation, rewarding high performance and incentives based on merit.

The PROACTIVE Library:
The PROACTIVE frame of reference requires looking to the future and seizing the initiative. It is a frame of reference from which leaders see the future as a choice to be made rather than as a situation to be endured. It is a view of the future as something to be chosen, not something waiting to happen. The critical factor in moving beyond the RESPONSIVE frame of reference is for the library to have a well established value system. The vision of the future must be one that is widely shared by library members, congruent with their value system, and an attractive and compelling force for them. For example; President John F. Kennedy proposed his vision of a man on the moon by the end of the 60s decade for America. Neil Armstrong did just that in July of 1969.

The vision of the future needs to communicate a choice that places high value on people – caring. People are simply not willing to put forth personal effort beyond being RESPONSIVE unless they feel the library they work for is their library that values them personally and professionally. The future vision must reflect a commitment to human values from which people derive a deep sense of personal meaning and satisfaction. High purpose, to be achieved, must be based on high order values. Thus, an enormous amount of energy that might otherwise be tied up developing, perpetuating and enforcing official rules is released to work on attaining the desired future state.

Achieving a PROACTIVE culture in your library requires “transformational” leadership that interacts with followers at the values level, as opposed to merely activating them at the material level. The transformational leader relates to the whole person of their followers by finding ways of developing their potentials and satisfying their higher needs. Genuine transformational leadership demands a resolute commitment to fundamental ethics and integrity, demonstrated “through congruent behavior. The role of leadership in PROACTIVE libraries is to keep the members purposed and well-tuned. The results of these leadership efforts are in the diagram.

The HIGH PERFORMING Library:
The more progressive perspective afforded by the PROACTIVE frame of reference is still insufficient to generate the level of performance observed in HIGH PERFORMING organizations. The phenomenon of library excellence is characterized by a high level of energy that unleashes human spirit and results in a marked improvement in productivity. The leaders of HIGH PERFORMING libraries have found ways of managing the flow of energy patterns and the human spirit these energy patterns release, as well as attend to those indicators with dedication that equals or often exceeds their dedication to the more visible performance results.

The HIGH PERFORMING library’s choices about strategy are made in the context of an underlying philosophy and “folk lore” that gives meaning to the library’s vision. The task of leadership becomes one of strategically navigating the library along a course established by the vision and the long range plans. Likewise, the performance management system required for a PROACTIVE library finds extra meaning in a HIGH PERFORMING library because it includes designing the plans for the library’s evolution.

Another key feature of the HIGH PERFORMING frame of reference is the emphasis on developing Metasystems as well as formal systems. Metasystems are groups, teams, or pockets of excellence within the larger organization to shape the cultural milieu throughout the library’s formal structure. Metasystems already exist in all libraries. Sometimes called the “good old boys” these informal structures provide pockets where leadership can begin to influence the desired value systems and spotlight the small successes. These can be used as think tanks for new ideas, for communicating (in both directions) with the organization informally, and for testing trends and moods of the organization. These informal leaders carry valuable influence which cannot be discounted or overlooked.

The kind of leadership required to achieve and sustain a HIGH PERFORMING library is nothing less than the excellent leadership described in literature. Excellent leaders also see their library as a contributing factor in the significant contributions to their community. In HIGH PERFORMING libraries the focus is on achieving high standards of excellence through identifying new potentials, seeking out new avenues of opportunity, and activating the human spirit. Leaders must have a frame of reference that extends beyond simply identifying results to be achieved. They must be able to see and feel the culture and spirit of the HIGH PERFORMING library through its members. Leaders operating in this state of flow are able to sustain for themselves (and communicate to their followers) an appreciation of the rich legacies, proud traditions and positive legends that are the valued roots of the HIGH PERFORMING library’s past.

The perspective of leaders operating in the HIGH PERFORMING frame of reference includes the importance of the synergistic effects of the library culture. As well as developing strongly cohesive teams and integrated sections, HIGH PERFORMING leaders look for ways of consciously strengthening their library by building a strong culture. They understand the uses of ceremony and ritual in creating and perpetuating the positive legends and proud traditions that give each member of the library a strong, proud heritage to maintain and reinforce. This attentiveness to the culture of the organization enables the leader to act in ways that support individual pursuit of excellence and fulfillment within the purposes and goals of the library.

Not only do leaders in HIGH PERFORMING libraries have the unique ability to think far into the future and keep their library aligned around a great vision, they have the parallel ability and courage to turn their people lose to pursue it. These leaders lead through their ability and willingness to empower their followers; to push power down into the hands of people so that they have the energy and freedom to seek adventure, creativity and innovation. Most importantly, they lead by virtue of caring deeply for their followers, which produces the mutual bond of strong emotional commitment and reciprocal loyalty that are the well-springs of excellence.

Summary: The High Performance Programming model provides a coherent framework for understanding the different levels of functional effectiveness that libraries can attain and the cultural frames of reference associated with each level. At the REACTIVE level, libraries are caught in frantic rounds of activity as their leaders think mainly of survival, enforcement of old rules and policies, and the protection of the old system. At the RESPONSIVE level, libraries handle their requirements competently as their leaders think mainly about building cohesive teams and solving problems as they arise. At the PROACTIVE level, libraries are oriented on achieving long term outcomes and their leaders think mainly about developing aligned and well-tuned people systems that are focused on a positive and purposeful future. At the HIGH PERFORMING level, libraries are flowing with excitement and spirit as their leaders think mainly about the further empowerment of their people so that together they can make even more significant contributions to the larger communities they ultimately serve.

A central concept in this model is that the three higher states of effectiveness are nested. That is, a PROACTIVE library must continue to be RESPONSIVE as well, and a HIGH PERFORMING library must also be PROACTIVE and RESPONSIVE. The frames of reference associated with each of these states are similarly nested. Leaders must not become so fixated on achieving a future state that they neglect to attend to the needs of the present, nor should they unleash their people completely without first making certain they are thoroughly aligned with the library mission and vision.

This High Performance Programming model brings into focus a coherent way to accomplish excellence within your library. As always, whether you make it happen depends on your willingness to put forth the necessary effort and dedication to exercise your leadership responsibilities excellently.

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February 24, 2012

What’s Wrong With This Picture!


I recently reacquainted myself with Google books Ngram Viewer – a seriously fascinating tool for research. Essentially, it allows users to compare terminology used in literature and identify trends of change over time. In their default example it compares Atlantis with El Dorado to note how the frequency of use of the two terms changed over time.

I wanted to compare some librarianship terms to see the frequency of their use in American literature over time, beginning in 1900 through 2008 (the most current literature in the database). “Librarianship – local library – library technology – 21st century” were the terms I first compared and obtained the results shown in the first graph below. It shows that use of the term “librarianship” (blue) peaked in the early 1980s and has declined since. Use of the term “21st century” (yellow) has been on a steady and accelerating increase since the 1980s.

In the second search (results below) I replaced “21st century” with “21st century library” (again yellow). The comparison reveals that “21st century library” is virtually non-existent in the literature. Not surprising.

The other interesting result is that “library technology” (green) peaked slightly in the mid-1970s and then was flat until an even smaller bump in about 2003, after which it flattened out again.

What is particularly fascinating are the “librarianship” (blue) peak in the literature in the mid-1970s and then again in the early 1980s before it began a jerky but steady decline, except for the slight bump in what appears to be 2003, and the steady increase in the rise of use of “local library” (red) in literature, until its steady decline after 2000. During a time when the focus should have been more on the local library, why would the use of the term in literature decline?

I hope I’m not the only one who is asking “What’s wrong with this picture?” Why in a time when libraries were on the cusp of such significant change – the Internet – was there a decline in discussion in the literature? Maybe some of you who have been in the profession since then can explain the drastic peak in the early 1980s, and the equally drastic decline in the discussion after that time.

I became introduced to the profession in the mid-1990s when the Internet was being introduced, yet the literature shows at that time the lowest point in use of “librarianship” (blue) since the 1950s. Why? The introduction of the Internet was a HUGE deal in library school in the mid-1990s. Why doesn’t use of the terms “librarianship” or “library technology” reflect that situation?

And again, why has the use of all these library related terms declined since 2000? At a time when there should have been intense focus on the impending changes and impacts, why was there a dearth of literature about the profession?

In my opinion, library leaders shrink from the unfamiliar. SLIS faculty – where ideas and innovation should reign – don’t know enough about external influences to understand their impact on librarianship. Therefore, they stop discussing it. No, that’s not quite accurate, they stop writing about it. As I recall there were only a couple of individuals in the mid-1990s who were looked to as ‘futurists’ in the profession. Every profession needs futurists – all the time.

One of the things I noticed at my first ALA conference in Chicago in 1995 was a LOT of discussion, and the years after were more discussion about the same topics. The last ALA conference I attended in D.C. in 2007 was a repeat of the same discussions on most of the same topics.

Librarians talk a lot, but don’t accomplish much toward evolving the profession. Can anyone explain why that is? Lack of leadership maybe?

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February 22, 2012

Being “The Library” Again


What would it take for “the library” to regain its former stature? To be recognized as the primary institution for free and equitable access to information? To be the place where people turn first to get answers to everyday questions, as well as find life altering experiences? Is that even possible, or desirable?

A couple of recent blog posts seem to suggest that it is – both – possible and desirable. Anthony Molaro’s post of February 10, “Libraries Gave Up Control” asks a lot of pointed questions about why the profession is in the shape it’s in today, and whether librarians can overcome the self-made situation to regain control of the profession. Agnostic, Maybe followed that post with his own views on February 16, Fight the Future where he sees the issue as two fold – “how much control over content, tools, and services do we have and is there a will to reclaim it?” Their perspective is focused more on the issues, but I suggest the solution is LEADERSHIP.

My thoughts lean toward a perception that there is not an abundance of talented leaders in the profession today to turn the situation around, because where are the librarians know how to do any of the great and wonderful things both Andy and Anthony suggest may be solutions? What library school program is training new librarians to recognize 21st Century factors that are impacting librarianship, let alone apply solutions? Where does a librarian learn to create a new, more functional ILS? Where does one learn the fundamentals of “expanding rights over library content”? Where is the entrepreneurial spirit? Even if we “hope” there is a will to reclaim control, who is going to lead that movement? Where are the leaders?

Kansas City Public Library

I believe librarianship is faced with a new paradigm that places the emphasis on librarian leaders dealing with the local situation to position their library to survive, and yet that requires exceptional visionary leadership – not a common trait among the profession. As I stated in “The Revolutionary Library“, “Evidence has convinced me that the 21st Century Library Paradigm is that libraries will be defined by those librarians running them and their local community more than by the profession, or SLIS, or any librarian associations’ standards.”

The problem becomes one of vision. The characteristics I stated above; vision, entrepreneurial spirit, and leadership are all essential to making the local library “The Library” again – in whatever form it needs to be in 21st Century society.

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February 14, 2012

Digital Natives Want ‘More’ From Their Public Libraries


A colleague recently put me onto a study by the Idaho Commission for Libraries that collected feedback on “Perceptions of Idaho’s Digital Natives on Public Libraries“. It is a very comprehensive, eye-opening, and highly useful study from which I believe all public library leaders can benefit.

Since Digital Natives comprise the next big challenge in library customers, it is highly useful to know their opinions of their community library. This study provides that – and more. One puzzling finding is that focus group respondents reported that that believe that “Information on the Internet is not always trustworthy.” and they also believe that “Overall, information obtained through books and libraries is much more trustworthy than information found online.” Yet, they admit that “The Internet is typically the starting point when a search for information is begun.”

What would account for this contradiction? Well, “Convenience is most important when digital natives look for information.” and “Libraries are mostly for young children and older adults, but not for those that fall into the age range that encompasses digital natives.” because “Libraries are perceived to be an old-fashioned, cumbersome way to get information.”

So, what could libraries do to make themselves more attractive to Digital Natives? “Understanding how libraries should be used is important, and would help make the library less intimidating.” Also, “Libraries should elicit opinions and ideas from younger digital natives when creating programs and services targeted for this group.” Libraries could also create “Library activities that provide opportunities for social interaction [that] are very appealing to younger digital natives.” And to attract older digital natives, libraries could create the “Hands-on experience [that] is perceived to be the most valuable source in older digital natives’ learning experiences.” – such as a technology petting zoo.

Another important element is “The fact that older digital natives believe that libraries should act as a hub for community information is reflected in their choices for potential library services and resources.”

10) Web-based resources offered by public libraries should include reference tools.
The preferred resources chosen by the older digital natives were all related to accessing information online. This is despite the perception that public libraries would not be able to afford to offer resources equal to what a university provides online to its students. Still, it is an indicator of the importance that digital natives place on convenient access to reliable information.

This is a very valuable and comprehensive study presented for Idaho library community application, but which – IMHO – has nearly universal application to every library interested in providing services to their Digital Native customers.

How well do you know your Digital Native customers? What services/programs do you have aimed at fulfilling their needs?

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